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oddaffinity
·I picked up this 2010 Aqua Terra, reference 231.10.39.61.02.001, just about one month ago (damn near on a whim) from r/watchexchange for about $1,900 without box or papers and have worn it every single day for the past 30 days. Looking to find out how it is to live with? Stick around and read on.
CASE
Omega’s classic “lyre-style” Aqua Terra case is a true treat to wear. Even though 38.5mm sounds giant on smaller wrists, it wears MUCH better than that due to the compact 44.5mm lug-to-lug length. For comparison, I had a Monta Noble with the same case diameter but a 47mm lug-to-lug, and it felt like a broad dinner plate on my 6.5 inch wrist. The case feels like a true cross between a slab-sided Tudor and an elegant, curvy Rolex Oyster case. I love the differing polished and brushed elements.
It’s not too thick, either. It’s slimmer than the co-axial versions of the watch, and with 150m of water resistance, I ain’t complaining.
BRACELET & CLASP
I went into this watch thinking that the bracelet and clasp would be a total disaster, based on all the YouTube reviews moaning about how the clasp isn’t as good as a Rolex due to the lack of micro adjust on the butterfly closure. Yet I disagree; I love how discreet the clasp is. The lack of micro adjust doesn’t bother me.
I’ve never found the bracelet uncomfortable, and the links are smooth as butter. Be warned that they have “twin screws” on each side of the link, so adjusting the bracelet is a proper PITA.
Also, it takes some practice to put the watch on if you’re used to Rolex/traditional diver clasps. But even for a bracelet snob like me, this feels much more rigid than even Grand Seiko’s current 9F watch clasps.
Annoyingly, my end links are loose; they wiggle up and down if I flex my wrist enough. The tabs at the bottom of the end links that sit against the underside of the lugs are likely worn down after 16 years and need to be replaced. This is a common problem with older Aqua Terra end links. Maybe all my watch needs is new spring bars, but I’ll let the Omega Service Center figure that out.
DIAL
This dial is gorgeous and visually interesting. It’s a shimmering silvery-white that plays well with the teak deck lines running vertically along the dial. The white gold indices have a subtle but stunning rainbow shimmer effect in the sunlight that doesn’t show up well on camera. I’m not kidding when I say that this dial looks infinitely more interesting than my Rolex Datejust that I used to own. And for a fraction of the price…
The green lume on the hands and dial are quite strong, as well. The date window, while unframed, has a nice bevel cut out into the dial, and the date font is very futuristic.
Omega must have had narrow profit margins with this dial; the pre-facelift second-gen Aqua Terra quartz variants (this one) featured applied white gold indices and a metallic Omega logo, while the post-facelift versions have more cost-effective fully printed dials, akin to a Railmaster.
My dial also has a little quirk: it has a “scar” (tiny metallic scratch) on the edge of the “teak deck” near the 58-minute mark, as well as a minor mark or two on the applied Omega logo. These are only visible in certain lighting conditions at specific angles. Whether it left the factory like that 16 years ago or it was accidentally marked by a watchmaker during a service/battery replacement, I will never know. I was admittedly upset when I first discovered them. But considering a replacement dial costs $1,100 and this pre-owned/pre-loved watch is technically old enough to drive a car, I’m making my peace with the scars. No watch is absolutely perfect, and the scars (or maybe “birthmarks”?) make it unique to me.
The double-sided AR coating is awesome and works extremely well. Yes, the exterior AR coating DOES scratch (mine has a fair bit of them), but it’s not enough to warrant a crystal replacement and I have no issues telling the time despite them.
MOVEMENT
This was the last generation of Aqua Terras to offer a quartz movement. Quartz was only available on the 38.5mm sizes and not the 41mm options. Omega axed the quartz movement for the model’s 2017 redesign, likely due to a lack of demand. I selected quartz over a co-axial automatic because I highly value accuracy in my watches. In my experience, this Omega 1538 movement runs just under 0.5 seconds fast per day, or maybe about 1/3 of a second fast per day. Absolutely excellent timekeeping.
This movement doesn’t have a quickset date, but it has an even cooler feature; a jumping hour hand! This means you can change time zones with the watch still running, which makes this a great travel watch (or for the occasional DST transition, if you live in the US). To change the date, you have to cycle the hour hand around the dial twice, which is tedious, but you hopefully won’t have to do it often.
(FYI: The 2015-ish “facelift” version of the quartz Aqua Terra with the printed dial uses the Omega 4564 caliber, which features a quickset date but no jumping hour hand.)
The seconds hand hits the markers most of the time, or at least comes somewhat close to them. I got lucky in this regard; while I don’t expect GS-levels of precision with quartz Omega seconds hands, I’m happy that it’s “close enough.”
What’s unusual about this movement is its date change. It’s extremely gradual, starting at 8pm and ending just after midnight. While it is nice that the new date shows up promptly on the next day, it’s odd looking down at my watch at 10:00pm and seeing the date stuck between today and tomorrow.
OVERALL
This is a phenomenal daily driver. It’s luxurious, gorgeous, accurate, comfortable and can be worn in every scenario; I’ve worn it while presenting to managers at work and while bumming it in sweatpants on early morning flights, and it never looks out of place. I plan on keeping this watch for a long time, hopefully forever. Maybe it needs a quartz SMP300 to compliment it…
I owned a Grand Seiko SBGX059 and this Aqua Terra feels more premium in every way. Yes, the GS has a more accurate movement with arguably slightly better finishing on the hands/indices, but this Omega feels more interesting in every other way. It looks like it has a personality and that Omega wasn’t cutting corners, even for their quartz watches.
I plan on sending it to Omega for a complete service in early 2027 (I’d do it now, but I want to make more memories with it/spend time with it before sending it off to a service center for three months). If you have $2k to spend on a luxury watch and either love/don’t mind quartz movements, I highly recommend this watch.
Thanks for reading!
CASE
Omega’s classic “lyre-style” Aqua Terra case is a true treat to wear. Even though 38.5mm sounds giant on smaller wrists, it wears MUCH better than that due to the compact 44.5mm lug-to-lug length. For comparison, I had a Monta Noble with the same case diameter but a 47mm lug-to-lug, and it felt like a broad dinner plate on my 6.5 inch wrist. The case feels like a true cross between a slab-sided Tudor and an elegant, curvy Rolex Oyster case. I love the differing polished and brushed elements.
It’s not too thick, either. It’s slimmer than the co-axial versions of the watch, and with 150m of water resistance, I ain’t complaining.
BRACELET & CLASP
I went into this watch thinking that the bracelet and clasp would be a total disaster, based on all the YouTube reviews moaning about how the clasp isn’t as good as a Rolex due to the lack of micro adjust on the butterfly closure. Yet I disagree; I love how discreet the clasp is. The lack of micro adjust doesn’t bother me.
I’ve never found the bracelet uncomfortable, and the links are smooth as butter. Be warned that they have “twin screws” on each side of the link, so adjusting the bracelet is a proper PITA.
Also, it takes some practice to put the watch on if you’re used to Rolex/traditional diver clasps. But even for a bracelet snob like me, this feels much more rigid than even Grand Seiko’s current 9F watch clasps.
Annoyingly, my end links are loose; they wiggle up and down if I flex my wrist enough. The tabs at the bottom of the end links that sit against the underside of the lugs are likely worn down after 16 years and need to be replaced. This is a common problem with older Aqua Terra end links. Maybe all my watch needs is new spring bars, but I’ll let the Omega Service Center figure that out.
DIAL
This dial is gorgeous and visually interesting. It’s a shimmering silvery-white that plays well with the teak deck lines running vertically along the dial. The white gold indices have a subtle but stunning rainbow shimmer effect in the sunlight that doesn’t show up well on camera. I’m not kidding when I say that this dial looks infinitely more interesting than my Rolex Datejust that I used to own. And for a fraction of the price…
The green lume on the hands and dial are quite strong, as well. The date window, while unframed, has a nice bevel cut out into the dial, and the date font is very futuristic.
Omega must have had narrow profit margins with this dial; the pre-facelift second-gen Aqua Terra quartz variants (this one) featured applied white gold indices and a metallic Omega logo, while the post-facelift versions have more cost-effective fully printed dials, akin to a Railmaster.
My dial also has a little quirk: it has a “scar” (tiny metallic scratch) on the edge of the “teak deck” near the 58-minute mark, as well as a minor mark or two on the applied Omega logo. These are only visible in certain lighting conditions at specific angles. Whether it left the factory like that 16 years ago or it was accidentally marked by a watchmaker during a service/battery replacement, I will never know. I was admittedly upset when I first discovered them. But considering a replacement dial costs $1,100 and this pre-owned/pre-loved watch is technically old enough to drive a car, I’m making my peace with the scars. No watch is absolutely perfect, and the scars (or maybe “birthmarks”?) make it unique to me.
The double-sided AR coating is awesome and works extremely well. Yes, the exterior AR coating DOES scratch (mine has a fair bit of them), but it’s not enough to warrant a crystal replacement and I have no issues telling the time despite them.
MOVEMENT
This was the last generation of Aqua Terras to offer a quartz movement. Quartz was only available on the 38.5mm sizes and not the 41mm options. Omega axed the quartz movement for the model’s 2017 redesign, likely due to a lack of demand. I selected quartz over a co-axial automatic because I highly value accuracy in my watches. In my experience, this Omega 1538 movement runs just under 0.5 seconds fast per day, or maybe about 1/3 of a second fast per day. Absolutely excellent timekeeping.
This movement doesn’t have a quickset date, but it has an even cooler feature; a jumping hour hand! This means you can change time zones with the watch still running, which makes this a great travel watch (or for the occasional DST transition, if you live in the US). To change the date, you have to cycle the hour hand around the dial twice, which is tedious, but you hopefully won’t have to do it often.
(FYI: The 2015-ish “facelift” version of the quartz Aqua Terra with the printed dial uses the Omega 4564 caliber, which features a quickset date but no jumping hour hand.)
The seconds hand hits the markers most of the time, or at least comes somewhat close to them. I got lucky in this regard; while I don’t expect GS-levels of precision with quartz Omega seconds hands, I’m happy that it’s “close enough.”
What’s unusual about this movement is its date change. It’s extremely gradual, starting at 8pm and ending just after midnight. While it is nice that the new date shows up promptly on the next day, it’s odd looking down at my watch at 10:00pm and seeing the date stuck between today and tomorrow.
OVERALL
This is a phenomenal daily driver. It’s luxurious, gorgeous, accurate, comfortable and can be worn in every scenario; I’ve worn it while presenting to managers at work and while bumming it in sweatpants on early morning flights, and it never looks out of place. I plan on keeping this watch for a long time, hopefully forever. Maybe it needs a quartz SMP300 to compliment it…
I owned a Grand Seiko SBGX059 and this Aqua Terra feels more premium in every way. Yes, the GS has a more accurate movement with arguably slightly better finishing on the hands/indices, but this Omega feels more interesting in every other way. It looks like it has a personality and that Omega wasn’t cutting corners, even for their quartz watches.
I plan on sending it to Omega for a complete service in early 2027 (I’d do it now, but I want to make more memories with it/spend time with it before sending it off to a service center for three months). If you have $2k to spend on a luxury watch and either love/don’t mind quartz movements, I highly recommend this watch.
Thanks for reading!
